kanna-chan's cafe

Kanna here! Welcome to Anime Saturday! This should be Anime Monday, but because I had an amount of homework and tests I didn’t see coming this week, I ended up putting this off until Halloween. However, that Friday, I was so tired that even though I had the majority of this written and just going through the editing stages, I was too tired to think straight and just said, “Screw it, I’m putting this up on Saturday.”

Like I said, this was originally going to be for Monday and then saved for Halloween. I wanted to review a creepy anime for Halloween. So, without further ado…

Note that this is the cover of the game, not the poster for the anime. Do a search for that on your own. I couldn't find a poster for the anime.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, When the Cicadas Cry, or When They Cry is a murder mystery self-published sound novel that was later adapted into an anime that aired in Japan between April 4 and September 26, 2006. Now, you’re probably asking me what a sound novel is.

Well, the proper term is visual novel. A visual novel uses the narrative style of literature in a digital format that could be considered as a video game, which is what the Higurashi series originally was; a series of video games. However, Higurashi is referred to as a sound novel, because while the art appears to be lacking and relatively simple, there is a large variety of sound effects and music used to set the atmosphere for the reader.

So there’s your info on a sound novel. So, what is the anime, Higurashi, about?

Well, to be perfectly honest…it’s a little hard to say. I’ll talk about why in a bit. For now, here’s a little background.

The story takes place during June 1983 in a fictional village called Hinamizawa. It’s a relatively small village with a population of approximately 2,000 people. This is usually the part of the review where I go over the characters. However, going over the characters would also require going into the story in very fine detail. However, Higurashi has a story that makes little to no sense. Not because it’s not well written – which it is – but because it’s…well…hard to follow.

Our main character, Keiichi Maebara, moves to Hinamizawa and becomes friends with Rena Ryugu, Mion Sonozaki, Rika Furude, and Satoko Houjou. Keiichi joins their after-school club activities, which typically consist of card and board games, along with punishment games for the loser.

Hinamizawa appears to be a relatively normal and peaceful town. However, this normalcy and peacefulness comes to an abrupt end after the annual Cotton Drifting Festival, a celebration to commemorate and give thanks to the village’s god, Oyashiro. Keiichi learns that every year for the past four years, one person has been murdered and another has gone missing on the evening of the Festival. In each of the story arcs, Keiichi or one of his friends becomes paranoid and a crime is committed. The crime typically involves the murder of one of Keiichi’s own friends, and it’s pretty hard to tell the delusions of the characters apart from the mystery of Hinamizawa, even though the truth is s…l…o…w…l…y revealed. I spaced slowly out like that, because that’s how it’s revealed.

R  E  A  L  L  Y                                                 S  L  O  W  L  Y

And this is where things get confusing. I know it’s going to sound like I’m spoiling the whole anime when I get to what I’m about to say next, but I’m not giving away the ending to the overall series, so it’s okay. No spoiler alerts.

Like the games, the anime has A TON of story arcs, which change every couple of episodes. Now, I’m not talking about shows like Inuyasha, which has different arcs that all connect to one storyline and don’t constantly change. Inuyasha’s story arcs all flow in the same direction and don’t cause too much of a shift in the overall plot. It’s easy to follow and doesn’t cause a ton of confusion.

Higurashi, on the other hand, had multiple arcs that all were connected to one storyline, but it was difficult to see just where it was headed. The arcs were separated into chapters, which changed every couple of episodes. At the end of the fourth episode, which was the end of the first chapter, three of the five main characters get killed off: Keiichi, Rena, and Mion. Keiichi was driven paranoid by the idea that Rena and Mion were trying to kill him, so he killed them, and then himself. Now, you would think that these characters would…well, stay dead.

WRONG

Who do we see return in the next episode? Why, it’s Keiichi, Rena, and Mion! They’re all alive, well, and on considerably good terms with each other! It’s like the events of the previous episode never occurred! And this is what makes the story very hard to follow. Each arc of the story follows a various plot, and it’s not until MUCH LATER in the series where everything starts to come together.

In Inuyasha, while there were different arcs, we didn’t have to wait until the end for everything to be explained. Everything was tied in to the general goals of the characters: collect the jewel shards and defeat Naraku. Look at the Band of Seven arc, for example. The author and artist of the manga of Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashi, did an incredible job tying in the storyline of seven mercenaries who died ten years before the story was set and then having them resurrected to the setting of the story so that they could kill off the main characters for Naraku. That was a storyline that people were able to follow as well as tie in to the general premise of the show. There weren’t any loose ends that needed to be tied up.

In Higurashi, however, the problem is that NOTHING is explained until the end of the second season. Not the first season. Apparently, Higurashi was so popular, that more seasons got produced, and we wound up with a total of six seasons, which wrapped the entire series up on August 15, 2013.

I know this is starting to sound like a compare/contrast between Higurashi and Inuyasha, and given that Inuyasha is my all-time favorite anime (and my first ever anime, excluding anything Miyazaki) this is making me sound biased, but…I really can’t think of anything else to compare it to.

OK, that’s not entirely true. I can think of other things to compare it to. The problem is, however, is that out of my top five favorite anime, with Inuyasha holding the #1 spot, Inuyasha does a better job of tying all of its sub-plots and extra storylines together than Higurashi does.

Anyway, the general idea behind Higurashi is more…historical. The story is set in a town where people are not allowed to leave without fear of going paranoid and dying.

Sounds like a great place! Move there and bring the kids! It’s like the Hotel California!

“You can check out anytime you like…but you can never leave~”

-“Hotel California” by The Eagles

OK, in all fairness, this town is entirely fictional and actually based on the village of Shirakawa, Gifu. I’ve never been to Japan, but I’ve looked up pictures of Shirakawa, Gifu, and it looks pretty nice.

Moving on.

The village of Hinamizawa was founded during ancient times, and was unknowingly located near a swamp that contained a parasite, which caused paranoia and eventual madness. The villagers interpreted this to be the cause of demonic possession, and as such, created laws that stated it was taboo to leave the village. The villagers went further to enshrine their laws as the laws of a local deity, Oyashiro, and the punishment turned into death by torture while the village became paranoid of being wiped out if too many “demons” left the village. The shrine maidens, who produced a type of energy, held the disease in check.

As the years went by, the village customs faded. The disease, which came to be known as Hinamizawa Syndrome, was deliberately released in 1983. And how did people die from the disease if they never left the town?

Well…I’m really not sure if you want me to go into that. I’m not even sure if I want to go into that. It’s not pretty. I mean; I’ve seen some pretty bloody and gory death scenes before. I’m not a squeamish person. I don’t mind seeing blood and guts in TV or movies because I know that the actors are all OK in the end. But the way that Hinamizawa Syndrome killed off of its victims sent shivers down my spine. I couldn’t help but look at what I was watching in pure horror. It’s that bad.

Overall: Higurashi has to be one of the bloodiest, goriest, creepiest, and most confusing anime series I have ever seen in my entire life. Given that I’m almost twenty and got into watching anime when I was about twelve (holy crap, I’ve been watching this stuff for NEARLY EIGHT YEARS), I’m not sure if that’s saying much. However, despite how confusing it is, the series is INCREDIBLY well written and always keeps you guessing and wondering what’s going to happen next. You want to figure out just what it is that ties everything together. And the music is pretty nice, too. The character designs are AMAZING, the storyline – albeit confusing – is amazing, and the majority of the characters are amazing. The anime in general is…well…AMAZING!

The one problem I have with this series is a fairly minor one. What is it? Well, I’m pretty sure that everyone who has seen Higurashi has asked this question at least once. That question being: WHY CAN’T THE CHARACTERS SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS LIKE NORMAL HUMAN BEINGS?

Whenever a problem comes up, instead of just talking it out, the characters become super violent and start killing off their problems. THESE. ARE. KIDS. Either the parents in this show are some of the worst parents around, or the kids just have some seriously messed up psyches and need to see a doctor. DESPARATELY. You could do a DEATH COUNT of how many characters have been killed off or how many times characters have been killed off.

Overall, this horrific anime is a hands-down ten out of ten. Just don’t show it to anyone who can’t handle blood and guts. Trust me on that one.

Bye for now! Look forward to the next Anime Monday (which won’t be this week; sorry, guys), which will hopefully be a video!

~k

One more thing: Blogger is fairly limited in customization, and I’m thinking about switching platforms. I’m open to suggestions, but whatever you suggest HAS TO BE FREE. I’m not saying it needs to have a 30-day-free-trial or whatever. No, this needs to be free 24/7 (unless the people who made the platform somehow decide that they want people writing content on their site to pay x amount of money per month/year while I’m on that site).